2020

Kurt: Blaine

Kurt: Blaine, please, don’t let what
happened between us in the past ruin the present

Kurt: don’t make the same mistakes

Kurt: talk to her

“Station Oosterflank. Vergeet niet om uit te checken. Station Oosterflank.”

Bella lives eight metro stops away, in the Prins Alexander area. Blaine gets off at the right station and after a ten minute walk, he’s in front of Bella’s building.

He doesn’t even know if she’s in. They were supposed to hang out today to plan for Christmas, since that’s only five days away. When Blaine rings the bell, the door does open for him, so someone’s let him in. It might be one of the roommates.

He’s proven right when he knocks on the door of Bella’s shared apartment.

“Hey, you’re Bella’s friend, right?” the roommate says.

Blaine nods. “Yeah, is she here?”

The roommate steps aside so that Blaine can go in, so that probably means that Bella’s home. He thanks the roommate before making a beeline to Bella’s room. He takes a deep breath and knocks a couple of times.

“Jeroen, I’m busy,” Bella calls from the other side of the door.

Blaine clears his throat. “Actually, it’s me.”

Blaine can hear some movement and the door flings open. Bella looks dishevelled and when Blaine looks over her shoulder, he sees Adeola. He needs to act fast.

“I’m so sorry!” he blurts out before Bella can close the door, “What I did yesterday was unfair and I was taking out my anger on you. You apologised for your invasive behaviour and I really appreciate that. I shouldn’t have said those mean things!”

There. It’s out there.

Bella doesn’t say anything, but the corner of her mouth curls up. Blaine sees that as a win.

“Right. I won’t keep you then,” Blaine says, glancing at Adeola, who waves when she notices that Blaine’s looking.

Blaine turns around, but then he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Come in, we need to plan for Christmas.”

Blaine turns back and he sees the look on Bella’s face. It’s genuine.

“I’m still invited?” he tries to joke, but it falls flat.

“Oh Blaine,” Bella sighs and she pulls him in a hug, “Of course, you fucking idiot. But don’t ever act like that again.”

“Sorry. It’s what I do.”

Blaine would like to think that he’s learned from his friendship with Kurt, but apparently that’s not true. At least this time he tried to get over his guilt so that he could apologise. And Kurt also told him to do so. Those four messages brought Blaine back to reality.

“Bella?”

“Hm?”

“Kurt kinda convinced me to talk to you. How does he know we had a fight?”

“Oh. Uh.”

“Are you two… talking?”

“No!” Bella says quickly. She pulls away so that they can face each other again. “No, but, uhm. I kinda told Femke? I didn’t expect her to tell Kurt!”

Adeola also looks embarrassed and Blaine sighs.

“What is happening, girls?”

Adeola gets off the bed and she takes Bella’s hand. The two of them exchange a quick, nervous look.

“Femke, Adeola and I, uhm, we have a WhatsApp group called… Look, I don’t know how to pronounce it!”

Bella takes out her phone to show Blaine. It’s called the ‘lekker met de meiden klainen’ group and Blaine has absolutely no idea what it means.

“We’ll get rid of it!” Adeola quickly says when Blaine keeps frowning at Bella’s screen.

“It’s completely out of line. I’m sorry, I should’ve deleted it after yesterday!” Bella adds.

“Wait, is this group about me?” Blaine asks, aghast.

“… and Kurt,” Adeola says silently.

Bella waves for his attention. “Really, we’ll get rid of it! We’ll tell Femke right away!”

Blaine stares at the two women and he should maybe feel a bit angry, because he was very annoyed and angry yesterday when he found out that Bella was poking her nose in his and Kurt’s business, but right now, the absurdity of the situation just makes Blaine burst out into laughter.

“You three have a group chat about me and Kurt?” he laughs.

Bella and Adeola exchange another look, but now they seem surprised.

“Well, the three of us spent half a day with you two and we both realised that this-” Adeola gestures vaguely in Blaine’s direction, “-was a disaster.”

“Femke told us that Kurt’s going through the same emotional journey as you, so the three of us… kinda decided to keep each other updated. Sorry?” Bella grimaces, but Blaine laughs again.

“God, this is ridiculous, ladies.”

The three of them are on Bella’s bed. Adeola’s sitting against the headboard and Bella’s head is in her lap. Adeola plays with Bella’s hair. Blaine’s lying next to them and he feels a bit bad for interrupting their day, but they let him stay!

Hanging out on a bed reminds him of all the times in Kurt’s room.

It doesn’t help that Bella’s put on some showtunes. Bella and Adeola aren’t even into musicals, but they think that Six has an amazing album and Blaine has to agree.

I don't need your love, no, no
No, I don't need your love, no, no
There's nothing left to discuss, no, no
But I don't need your love, no, no

“You know, I Don’t Need Your Love isn’t a romantic song to listen to with your partner,” Adeola deadpans.

Bella props herself up so that she can kiss her girlfriend and Blaine once again wonders what the fuck he’s doing here. He feels a slight stab in his chest when he sees how happy Bella and Adeola are. They’re supposed to discuss Christmas plans, but instead they’re just chilling and Blaine’s a third wheel.

“Well, the song fits my life then,” Blaine says with a chuckle.

Both Adeola and Bella stare at him.

“Does it?” Bella asks.

“I mean…” Blaine trails off. Then he shrugs lamely.

Bella throws one of her stuffed animals towards him and the bear lands on his face. Blaine lets out a shocked laugh.

“Bella Kim!”

“Blaine Anderson!” Bella says back in the same tone, “You need love in your life!”

“I have love in my life!” Blaine argues and he leans on his elbow so that he can anticipate another stuffed animal to the face, “I have you, my friends! And my parents and brother!”

“Fair,” Adeola says, “If being single makes you happy, then it’s kind of rude to immediately ask when you’re going to date.”

“Exactly!” Blaine says and he points towards Adeola to show that he’s serious. Damn, he should give Cooper a call.

“Okay, valid,” Bella relents, “But - and I’m sorry for prying – you also told me about Kurt. The feelings haven’t resurfaced?”

“No,” Blaine lies. Well, it isn’t a lie. They couldn’t really resurface, since they never left. But Blaine’s gotten great at repressing them, mostly by dating other guys. He’s had six years of practise. Sometimes, they slipped through, but Blaine held them off.

And he will continue to do so. He really doesn’t need Kurt’s love.

At this point, Blaine’s long past the feeling of surprise when he runs into Kurt. Yes, Rotterdam is a big city, but everyone uses the same big shopping places. Sure, the chances of them running into each other are still small. There’s around half a million people living in the municipality of Rotterdam. Yes, Blaine’s checked.

One thing he didn’t expect, though, is to see Burt and Carole.

There’s only a small distance between Kurt and Blaine, but there’s a global distance between the Hummel-Hudsons and Blaine!

Kurt once mentioned that his parents were coming to Rotterdam for Christmas, but he and Kurt haven’t spoken since Nijmegen and he and the Hummel-Hudsons haven’t spoken in years.

Honestly, all Blaine wanted to do was buy an AH saucijzenbroodje at the Albert Heijn in the Markthal. De Martkhal is an impressive building and a lot of tourist want to see the inside and its Tijdtrap, and this includes the Hummel-Hudsons.

He’s about to turn around when Carole spots him.

“Blaine, is that you?”

Oh God.

And now she’s walking towards him. Blaine’s basically trapped.

“It is you! Kurt mentioned that you live in Rotterdam!” Carole gushes. Blaine quickly glances at Kurt. Did he? “It is so lovely to see you, it’s been too long. You weren’t at the- It’s been too long!”

Carole looks red in the face and Blaine knows that she was going to scold him for not showing up at Finn’s funeral. He got an invitation. 

Kurt and Burt also come closer. Carole is absolutely over the moon and Blaine’s heart fills with love. She’s such a kind woman and in those few years she basically became a second mother to him. Blaine’s mom and Carole really liked each other.

Blaine looks over to Kurt and Burt. Kurt is checking something on his phone and Burt seems very… Well, he isn’t pleased to see Blaine.

“Blaine,” Burt says shortly.

“Burt,” Blaine says nervously.

“Dad,” Kurt hisses, but Blaine heard it. That’s his cue.

He holds up his saucijzenbroodje. “I should probably go upstairs.”

“You live here?” Carole says in amazement. Blaine nods. He can understand the sentiment. His apartment is on the outside of the Markthal, but most people only see the inside and the entire building is gorgeous, especially with the two big glass windows and the colourful ceiling.

“Yes, I better get going.”

Either Carole is completely oblivious to her husband and her stepson, or she just doesn’t give a fuck, because she tells Blaine to stay around.